This is my latest card in The Vulpine Tarot. The story behind my edition of The Hanged One depicts Odin (as an Arctic Fox) and his discovery of the Nordic Runes as described in the Hávámal of the Poetic Edda. The quick and dirty of the story goes that some time after Odin gave up his eye to become all-seeing (another story for another day), he stabbed himself with a spear and hanged himself from the Tree of Life for nine days with no food or drink as a sacrifice to himself. This in turn, led Odin to discover the runes. Any Asatruars out there, feel free to correct my interpretation of the mythology.

Here, Odin the Arctic Fox hangs from the Tree of Life with one of its branches magickally cut asunder on the ground next to his blood-soaked spear. He reaches forth to pick up sliver of this branch. A symbol begins to glow, burning its image into the wood. It is Fehu, the first rune of the Futhark.

The Hanged One, as a tarot card, is about sacrificing yourself to a higher power. It calls for you to take a step back and just observe what's going on around you.

One last tidbit about The Vulpine Tarot: The fox in this card is the only one in the entire deck (so far) to have a name.

His eye was given for a drink from Mimr's Well - the well of memory. As a result, the eye was dropped into the well and Odin became all-seeing. It had nothing to do with this storyline of discovering the runes. Otherwise, great drawing and nice interpretation. Hmmm, now who suggested that idea??